We miss some of the meaning of a text whenever we translate from another language. This Sunday, for instance, there were two different words involved in the ideas of death and life.

In Romans 6:13 “we have been brought from death to life,” the word nekros is used for death. It means we have been empowered for living. We are no longer helpless slaves of destructive forces, internal or external.

In Rom 6:23 “the wages of sin is death,” the word thanatos is used for death. It means that sin separates us from God, others and even our own best self.

It flavors the whole passage of slavery to sin or slavery to righteousness. Basically it is talking about the idea of relationships. If we want to maintain good relationships with God and with others, we need to stop letting sinful, destructive forces control us. The good news is that we are empowered to do that when grace becomes a reality in us.

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